48 



collection includes worked specimens of bangles in a 

 fragmentary condition from the following districts and 

 provinces in India : — 



Mysore. Hyderabad (Raichur Doab) 



Bellary. Kistna. 



Anantapur. Gujarat. 



Ivurnul. Kathiawar. 



To these has to be added Guntur District upon the 

 authority of Mr. Rea's researches. 



The localities in Mysore, Bellary, Anantapur, 

 Kurnul and Hyderabad adjoin one another and form a 

 solid block or district in the southern Deccan some 250 

 miles from north to south and 150 miles from east to 

 west. The finds in Kistna and Guntur Districts are of 

 separate importance as they consist of fragments of 

 bangles associated with Buddhist objects which cannot 

 of course be considered prehistoric. 



The localities in Gujarat and Kathiawar form a 

 second well-marked geographical area, being situated 

 around the Gulf of Cambay adjacent to where chanks 

 are fished at the present day. 



Omitting Kistna and Guntur Districts, Mr, Bruce 

 Foote's and Mr. Rea's collections and explorations in- 

 dicate only these two localities as centres of ancient 

 chank-working in an examined area which extends from 

 Tinnevelly in the south to Rajputana in the north, an 

 area inclusive of the whole of Central and Southern 

 India. 



In order to be in a position to decide the age of 

 these chank fragments it will be most satisfactory if I 

 tabulate in the following pages the various sets and 

 give such details as Mr. Bruce Foote supplies in his 

 descriptive catalogue of the collection, with such com- 

 mentary on each as may be pertinent to the subject at 

 issue. 



Mysore. 



Srinivasapur in Kolar Taluq, No. 202.* Six frag- 

 ments of chank bangles associated with iron slag, No. 202 

 (158), the half of a weathered basalt celt and large 



* The numbers noted are those given in Mr. Bruce Foote s *' Catalogue 

 Raisonne," Madras Government Museum. 



